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Bolnisi (Municipality, Georgia)

ბოლნისი

Flag and arms of Bolnisi - Images by The State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia, 20 January 2011

Presentation of Bolnisi
Flag of Bolnisi
The "Bolnisi Cross"

See also:

Georgia

Presentation of Bolnisi

The town of Bolnisi (13,800 inhabitants) is located in the Kverno Kartli Region (southern Georgia), 60 km of Tbilisi.
Bolnisi was the site of a German colony named Katharinenfeld, founded in 1818 by Swabian colonists invited by Tsar Alexander I. The colony was suppressed by Stalin, who deported all the inhabitants of German origin, except those married to Georgians.

Ivan Sache, 9 December 2010

Flag of Bolnisi

The flag and arms of Bolnisi are prescribed by Decree No. 178, adopted on 30 March 2009 by the Municipal Council.

The State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia, 20 January 2011

The flag is red with a white "Georgian" cross patty inscribed in a white circle.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms, "Gules a cross patty argent inscribed in a ring of the same. The shield surmounted by a three-towered mural crown argent fimbriated sable. Under the shield a scroll argent fimbriated sable charged with the name of the town in old asomtavruli [see below] capital letters sable".

The colors of the arms are based on historical documents from the 18th-19th centuries, especially the two atlases published in 1745-1746 by Prince Vakhushti (Vakhushti Batonishvili, 1696-1757), which use gules for the arms of the Kartli region. Moreover, gules and argent symbolize justice, purity and wisdom of the inhabitants.
[State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia]

Ivan Sache, 30 May 2012

The "Bolnisi Cross"

The cross shown on the flag and arms of Bolnisi, known as the Bolnisi Cross, appears on a bas-relief in the Bolnisi Sion Church (image with transcription and translation), dated from the 5th century and the oldest church in Georgia; the cross is surrounded by a writing that is the oldest known use of the ancient Georgian script ("asomtavruli"). The expression "Bolnisi Cross" is sometimes, but quite rarely, used to design the "Georgian" cross patty (for instance, in the official description of the Georgian military flags).

Ivan Sache, 9 December 2010